


The Best Bashers Always Bash Without Bashing

by TheBookTheDragonSaved



Series: I will write this ship or I will die trying. [2]
Category: Marvel, Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: Battle, F/M, Mantis is tougher than you think, Mischief, One Shot, Sneakiness, Teamwork, We need more Loki and Mantis
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-18
Updated: 2020-03-18
Packaged: 2021-02-28 21:34:34
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23204035
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheBookTheDragonSaved/pseuds/TheBookTheDragonSaved
Summary: Because we need more Mantis and Loki fics (seriously, guys, get on it - I believe in you).Mantis and Loki using teamwork and sneakiness to trash some folks, and just sowing general chaos. Set in the battle of Wakanda, but not based anywhere in particular story-wise. Something I really wish we could have seen in the movies.
Relationships: Loki & Mantis (Marvel), Loki/Mantis (Marvel)
Series: I will write this ship or I will die trying. [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1726816
Comments: 4
Kudos: 40





	The Best Bashers Always Bash Without Bashing

“That is fifty down,” Mantis said breathily.

“Many, _many_ more to go,” Loki finished.

Mantis cast her gaze around the battlefield for people who might need their help, until it caught on the giant gorilla-like creature who was usually following Thanos. He was ripping into their soldiers left and right, and a few metres to his side, the long-face was using his powers to cause further casualties with deadly precision and minimal movement. An idea began to form in Mantis’s mind.

“Of course,” she noted, tilting her head owlishly, “More help is always appreciated.”

Loki followed her gaze and grinned madly as he caught her meaning.

“Certainly,” he agreed. “Will you ask them, or shall I?”

She smiled widely. “I will leave the details to you.”

Loki nodded, face still split in a maniacal smile, and ran off, trusting her to keep pace beside him. “The large one looks angrier,” he yelled over the noise of the battle, and Mantis peeled off, headed for where the monstrous creature was using a Wakandan soldier as a mace, swinging into their allies with devastating force. The thing lashed out at her as she drew near, but she dodged neatly under the arcing object and, using his knee as a springboard, somersaulted up and over his head, so she landed facing his back.

He bellowed angrily and began to turn clumsily to face her, ready to pound her into the dirt, but then a strip of sharpened metal came whistling towards them, slicing a gash in his upper arm. Screaming in pain and anger, he whirled back around, eyes coming to rest on the tall and pale form of his comrade just as Mantis slapped a hand onto the exposed skin of his shoulder. She squeezed her eyes shut in concentration for a moment then released her hold and watched in satisfaction as the clumsy beast lumbered off, roaring with rage, in the direction of his sallow-faced fellow. A few metres to the side, the last vestiges of green magic were just dissipating from Loki’s hands and he was smirking savagely.

The gorilla-beast slammed into his target in a three-thousand-kilogram tackle, sending them both sprawling. What an emotionally unhealthy lot these villains were, Mantis thought. She wondered briefly, and only partially ironically, if she might not prevent more extinction-level threats by going into therapy, but a battlefield was not the place to examine such thoughts in much detail, so she quickly loped off to re-join Loki, pausing only to put one of Thanos’s slimy foot soldiers to sleep on her way.

When she reached him, sallow-face and gorilla-beast were partway through the process of pounding each other to pieces. Unprepared for the initial attack, sallow-face now screamed obscenities with a huge gash across his forehead, and was using only one arm to direct deadly shards of metal at his foe with the other dangling boneless at his side. Still, the wildly wheeling scraps were striking the gorilla with savage fierceness, and Mantis could see him growing steadily more and more furious.

“Shall we place bets, do you think?” Loki asked. He was watching the spectacle with a detached air of amusement, totally unperturbed by the chaos surrounding them.

Mantis’s gaze was still darting around, scanning for opportunities. The two brawling beings were causing _some_ casualties among their own side – particularly the storm of shreds directed by the long-face – but for the most part, the mindless black drones that formed the main mass of Thanos’s army swarmed around them unaffected.

“Get that one’s attention,” she said, directing Loki’s attention off to the left of the fight, to a slightly larger drone than the others. Loki promptly summoned a knife and threw it, with pinpoint accuracy, so it embedded itself in the drone’s shoulder. It howled with rage, and swung round to charge towards them. Mantis waited for as long as she dared, then at the last second, she slipped out of the way, laying her hands on its back.

“ _Sleep_ ,” she ordered, and guided it to the ground. She motioned helplessly to Loki. “Could you..?”

“But of course,” he replied gallantly, magic already swirling at his fingertips. As she watched, the beast lifted slowly off the ground, and then was tossed through the air like an evil ragdoll, directly into the two clashing villains. When the two scrambled up again, they flew simultaneously into a blind rage, lashing out at anything in sight, and increasing the pandemonium tenfold.

“Just add water,” Loki commented, completely straight-faced.

Before long, a full third of the enemy had wholly forgotten their mission, and were instead focused totally on pulling each other to shreds. The Wakandan forces were looking around in confusion as their attackers were suddenly yanked away, and standing on a small hillock some distance away, Mantis and Loki could see the Black Panther redirecting these men and women to the parts of the battle where the chaos had not yet spread.

“Well,” Loki said. “I’d say that went rather well.” His eyes were alight, and Mantis was sure hers must be the same. She wasn’t enjoying the blood and the dust, but the constant movement made her feel so _alive_. She laughed, just to dispel some of the buzzing feeling in her chest and Loki looked at her in surprise. Then before she could excuse herself, he was laughing too – ferociously – and as they sped off through the sprawling mess, their enemies fled before them; before this strange pair, who laughed in the tumult of battle.

When the battle was over, Loki – ever the gentleman – helped her gracefully down from atop a slumbering beast, as he might a lady descending from a carriage, and they smiled at one another: him wolfish, her shining and alive.

They were an unlikely pair, those two, but no less potent for it.

**Author's Note:**

> First fic, so wish me luck!!!
> 
> I fully believe that these two are the perfect team, and could beat anyone in the MCU with sneakiness and quick-thinking.  
> I also wish we got more manipulation-ish fighting, especially with Mantis - we all know she can do it! She already empathed Gamora onscreen; now she just has to do it to the bad guys.
> 
> \- The Book The Dragon Saved


End file.
